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Coal forms when organic matter builds up in waterlogged, anoxic swamps, known as peat mires, and is then buried, compressing the peat into coal. The majority of Earth's coal deposits were formed during the late Carboniferous and early Permian. The plants from which they formed contributed to changes in the Carboniferous Earth's atmosphere. [25]
The Carboniferous rainforest collapse was caused by a cooler drier climate that initially fragmented, then collapsed the rainforest ecosystem. [2] During most of the rest of Carboniferous times, the coal forests were mainly restricted to refugia in North America (such as the Appalachian and Illinois coal basins) and central Europe.
Vast deposits of coal originate in former wetlands called coal forests that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) and Permian times. [3] [4] Coal is used primarily as a fuel. While coal has been known and used for thousands of years, its usage was limited until the Industrial Revolution.
It is the lower formation in the Carbondale Group, and includes six named members, "which, in ascending order, are the Seelyville Coal, Coxville Sandstone, Colchester Coal, Mecca Quarry Shale, Velpen Limestone, and Survant Coal Members, and unnamed units of sandstone, shale, and clay". [3] It preserves fossils dating back to the Carboniferous ...
The Carboniferous period is characterised by the formation of coal deposits which were formed within a context of the removal of atmospheric carbon. In the latest Middle Pennsylvanian (late Moscovian) a cycle of aridification began, coinciding with abrupt faunal changes in marine and terrestrial species. [18]
The Pittsburgh coal seam is the thickest and most extensive coal bed in the Appalachian Basin; [1] hence, it is the most economically important coal bed in the eastern United States. The Upper Pennsylvanian Pittsburgh coal bed of the Monongahela Group is extensive and continuous, extending over 11,000 mi 2 through 53 counties.
Coal Group 45 lies at the base of the Joggins Formation, and though the section assigned to this group stretches 3.1 m (10 ft 2 in) from start to finish, only 7.6 cm (3.0 in) of this actually represents basal coal. Two of the most heavily mined deposits of coal - the Fundy Seam and Dirty Seam - are part of the Joggins Formation.
Plant fossils (and coal deposits as a whole) are uncommon in the following "Cantabrian" substage of the Stephanian Stage. [3] The end of the Asturian is a topic of strong debate; most estimates place the Westphalian-Stephanian boundary before the start of the Kasimovian global stage (~307 Ma), [ 6 ] [ 4 ] [ 3 ] whereas a few place the boundary ...